


9 Minutes of Eavesdropping

by silverlysilence



Series: Times of Change [1]
Category: Speed Racer (2008)
Genre: Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-18
Updated: 2015-05-18
Packaged: 2018-03-31 02:14:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3960556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silverlysilence/pseuds/silverlysilence
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Racer X just wanted to take a shower.  Rex just wanted to see his little brother.  The conversation he walked in on was not something he expected and both of his personas were worried.  What kind of trouble had Speed Racer gotten himself into this time?</p>
            </blockquote>





	9 Minutes of Eavesdropping

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is a response to a challenge my friends gave me involving one blind pick from my movie collection and one blind pick from my manga collection. Then, I was to take each and write a story incorporating both the movie and the manga, which is how this story came about. However, I am going to be truly evil by not telling you what manga I picked. That, you will have to wait for the squeal for unless you figure it out yourself, but there will be a squeal. 
> 
> Also, for some reason, I am horrible at writing gen because this came out more pre-slash than I would have like. 
> 
> I appreciate feedback.

The day had been long, the race had been longer, and the after party had been even longer still. Most of the other racers had long since absconded to the locker-rooms at the first change they had gotten to escape from the suffocating clutches of the celebratory gathering. Those racers who had voluntarily stayed, and the few who had been roped into staying, for the party had since left as well; either alone in disappointment or on the arm of one of the ample beautiful young ladies looking for a ride with a racecar driver. More so the latter than the former for those who had placed in the race or had some exciting stories to tell the enamored beauties.

He couldn’t _not_ condone their behavior, when in the past he had been one of those racecar drivers who had taken a stray or two back to a hotel for some late night fun. However, the racing world had changed and he had been forced to change with it or risk being left behind; which wasn’t a risk he was willing to take. So, instead of going home with one of the lovely ladies decked out in their finest or one of the racing bunnies hardly dressed at all, he had chosen to lurk in the background. Conversing with the less savory side of the racing world, the _Sponsors_ , and having a chat with some of the few racers who were willing to talk to him or were too drunk to know the difference.

After spending a few hours at the after party, he had extracted himself from the large ballroom with ease and had headed to the locker-room to take a much needed shower. He had expected to have the place to himself; yet, when he opened the door, the soft light from the communal showers penetrated through the otherwise darkened room followed by the echoing of pouring water splashing off of the slick shower tiles. A half opened locker with clothing hung over the top of the opened door gave a clue to the other occupant being another racer. But it was the white leather jacket with a large red circle on the back and the yellow number five in the middle that revealed the identity of the racer as Speed Racer.

He debated with himself on just leaving then; head straight back to the hotel he had rented for the night and take a shower there. However, the thought of leaving without a shower to wash off all the grime from on the race track and all the grim reminders of the scum of the racing worlds’ hands he had willingly shaken to keep his cover had him suppressing a shiver of disguised. Racer X needed a shower, not only to clean himself physically, but to wash away all of the sins he felt clinging to his soul as well.

He would just have to suck it up if he really wanted a shower and he _really_ did want a shower. At least, that was what he had told himself. In reality, when confronted with the similar situations in the past, he had just gone back to his hotel room and washed up there as to keep from revealing his surgically altered face. Racer X tried to convince himself it was because he need the shower more now than he had in his past and it had nothing to do with the thought of spending just a little time with his little brother. But the Rex part of him knew it was only a flimsy excuse at best, and one he was willing to take to see Speed again.

 _Besides_ , the Rex part of him thought, _avoiding the Grand Prix Champion completely would be just as obvious as if he was too close to Speedy_.

It would be another tell, one which couldn’t be afforded, potentially exposing there was something between Speed and Racer X and he couldn’t be blamed for placing yet another target on the young Racer’s back. The young teen already had enough targets of his own to deal with, what with turning the racing world upside down with winning the Grand Prix barely three months ago. It had nothing to do with his longing to freely talk to the kid for the first time since he had shown the younger Racer his face on Thunderhead Race Ways all those months ago, shattering the Speed’s hope that Racer X was his brother and causing a little more of Rex to die inside of him.

With a deep breath, the former Racer reached behind his head to undo the fastening which kept his mask in place.

“You’re an idiot,” the soft voice from the showering area had X’s hand falling away from the fastening and towards the concealed weapon in his protected leather racing suit instinctively. That voice wasn’t Speed; the sharp intake of breath which came soon after, on the other hand, did belong to his little brother.

“What the… How the… _When did you get in here_?” came the modulated voice which X associated with Speed and had Rex cringing, wondering when his brother’s voice had gone from the high pitch voice of a child to the low voice of the teenager who had raced with him for Team Togokahn.

X cautiously creeped through the dark locker-room towards the showers, his hand wrapped around the grip of his gun, pulling it out just in case it was needed. He moved with little noise, confident that the splattering of the water from the showers would conceal his presences from the other occupants of the room.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” the voice tutted, and now that X was closer and the echoing of the spray from the water was tapered down, he could clearly ascertain the voice was feminine. Although, he couldn’t see what the woman looked like, another step towards the lite area allowed him a partial view of the showers and he had to press his back up against the dividing wall to keep from being seen himself.

From his vantage point, X could easily identify the short stature of Speed with only a glance. A height which he knew irritated the teenager to no end but never let it show. The only reason he knew was because of Rex’s memories of a tiny Speedy claiming he would be taller than him someday. X seriously doubted the young Racer would ever achieve that goal in this life though. Especially since Trixie was just as tall as Speed or taller if she wore her heels.

Speed’s skin, which had taken on a slight tan tone due to the copious amount of time spent under the sun, glistened from the water running down his back. There were a few small mass of soap suds clinging stubbornly to his skin, but then again, that wasn’t what caught X’s attention. Dark colored eyes were drawn to equally dark splashes of yellows and purples in various states of healing splattered across the Racer’s young body.

The sight of the bruises had X gritting his teeth while his hands became white as they tightened around the gun currently pointed at the ground. He made a mental note to keep an ear out for anyone bragging about roughing up the Grand Prix Champion because he was going to personally pay them back two folds. On or off the track, preferably off the track in a dark alleyway with no cameras followed up by on the track to deter anyone else from trying the something.

“You’re not here for an autograph,” the teen in the shower casually commented as he ran his fingers through dark black hair that was usually slicked back but due to its current water logged state, strains were hanging limply into closed blue eyes as Speed lathered up his hair with shampoo. “So why are you here?”

“Princess Pedal, you remember her?” the woman asked as if she was talking about the weather, which had X pressing his further back against the wall. While he hadn’t known the full extent of Speed’s involvement with the princess of the oil rich country until after everything was filed in triplicates, the agent had known at the time the Grand Prix Champion had been vital in saving Princess Pedal’s life on a number of occasions. What he hadn’t known until later was that he was the sole witness to the murder of one of the princess’s personal body guards. In fact, if X remembered correctly, Speed was supposed to fly to Princess Pedal’s home country to give his testimony in front of their grand jury to convict the head of the assassin ring in less than a week.

Speed made a noise of acknowledgement in the back of his throat as he ducked his head under the spray of water to wash out the thick white lather of shampoo.

“Yeah, well, her would-be-assassins remember you too,” the woman replied, a noise coming from her side of the shower which X assumed was her moving about from the sounds of rustling fabric. Knowing this might be his only chance to catch a glimpse of the unknown woman without either her or Speed noticing his presence, the undercover agent took a gambit and glance around the concern.

He wasn’t able to see much of the woman, but it was clear she was around Speed’s age or a little older. She was even taller than his brother, but nowhere near as tall as him. Her skin, what he could see from the profile view and under the layers of fabric, was a dark sun-kissed color. As for her clothing, X could only clearly make out a short-sleeved red coat which went down to her knees with black flames along the hemline. There were bits of orange and black peeking out from under the coat, but nothing to give a good description of to the Chief Inspector if it came down to it.

Long blonde hair was pulled to the side, either done up in a side ponytail or in high pigtails, but he couldn’t tell which. However, it was the white masked with red markings pulled to the side of her head obscuring X’s view of her face and the two hilts sticking up over her shoulders which had the agent on high alert. The weapons alone were cause for alarm, but it was the mask which had X frozen in place. His finger falling away from the trigger in utter disbelief.

He had read secondhand accounts of individuals who wore white porcelain animal mask and those who had seen behind their masks had never lived to tell the tale. X didn’t know how true the stories were, but there were countless accounts of these masked individuals throughout the _centuries_ if one had the dedication and the drive to look for the obscure references to the white porcelain mask hunters, not to mention they had to have a lot of time on their hands as well. Thankfully, he had one such person who had the drive and the dedication to spend copious amount of time reading over history texts and literature as his friend.

Minx was obsessed with the myth of the masked assassins, and had recounted various stories to him on their numerous stakeouts. X never thought the information would come in handy. Now, he hoped, _prayed_ , Speedy won’t turn around. That he would keep his eyes close and didn’t look into the unveiled faced of the hunter.

Luck was not on his side it would seem. For as soon as the thought crossed his mind, the young Racer glanced over his shoulder and into the face of the unmasked woman. If X’s heart rate hadn’t already been pounding away, it sure was now. Yet, even as he expected the woman to pull one of the two hilts from her back and attack Speedy, the woman did nothing.

“So it is you I have to thank for those hired muscle never coming back to finish the job?” Speed asked, rubbing the dark purplish-blue bruise on his left shoulder with a slight wince. The simple question had Racer X’s mind reeling. From all Minx’s stories, never once had he heard of the white porcelain mask assassin helping others. All the stories were about assassination on high profile people which tended to look more like natural deaths than murder.

“It was,” came the flippant reply and X wondered just how many people had been fooled by the woman’s deceiving soft voice. It sounded silvery and appealing even to his ears, but her words were anything but calming to his rapidly pounding heart. “And the lovely Madam X will be found in her cell, catatonic in about an hour’s time.”

“That seems a little extreme,” Speed blanched as he stuck his head under the shower head for one last rinse off.

“It was that, or let her kill you, and I couldn’t let that happen. You still have a debt that needs to be paid,” the blonde woman replied, her voice having a slight edge to it which hadn’t been present before.

Her words had X’s mind slowing from the panic induced state of an older brother to that of a trained investigator. Obviously, Speed and this masked hunter had met before, under what circumstances was currently unclear. What was clear, was that his little brother owed a debt to a very dangerous individual and she was looking to keep him alive long enough for him to fulfill his debt.

“Besides,” the woman said, watching as the young Racer turned off the water and shook his head back and forth to get rid of the excess water. He reached out and grab the towel hanging on the knobs of the shower next to him. After wrapping the towel around his waist, Speed turned around to face the woman and X had to suppress a gasp as one moment she had been across the room and the next, the blonde was pressed right up against the young Racer’s body. “You’re much too pretty looking to waste.”

X had reacted right away, moving to level his weapon at the woman, but by the time his gun was pointed at her, she had pressed Speed pressed up against the wall and he didn’t have a clear shot without risk of his bullet hitting the Grand Champion as well. His heart jumped into his throat when the woman leaned forward, whispering something in Speed’s ear. The agent was too far away to hear what she had said, and her face was still obscured by her mask so he couldn’t read her lips. He did, however, hear the distinctive sound of her laying a kiss on Speed.

For some reason, that action alone had X more worked up than anything else which had taken place. He would have shot the woman then and there for daring to defile _his_ brother. Yet, before he could do anything, from one blink of the eye to the next, the blonde had disappeared, leaving Speed to stumble forwards. His cheeks flushed a dark red and Racer X was gritting his teeth as pure red hot fires of rage seared its way through his veins.

“Okay, that just happened,” Speed wheezed to himself, standing there for a few moments, which gave X enough time to rein in his emotions and retreat back into the dim locker-room. He placed his weapon back in its holster and silently wondered over to his locker. From there, he did little to conceal his presence, keeping a well trained eye on the shower opening.

He wasn’t disappointed, for in the next few seconds, Speed came stumbling out of the shower eyes darting around the room before landing on X. Even from this distance, the agent could see the still fading blush on his cheeks blaze back to life when blue eyes locked on him. Dark eyes also caught the way the teen’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down before the teenager seemed to steel himself and walked over to his opened locker only a few lockers away from his own.

“Oh, hey X,” Speed said in a semi-even voice and if Rex didn’t know what to look for and he hadn’t been in the room moments before, he wouldn’t have seen anything wrong with his brother.

“Speed,” the agent replied, nodding his head towards the young Racer. “Great race tonight.”

“Yeah, well I should be the one congratulating you on your win,” the young man smiled as he tried to discreetly cover up the numerous bruises with his shirt. Although even when covered, X could identify where each of black and yellow splotches were located from his stiff and awkward moment. It was no wonder the Grand Prix Champion’s driving had be lackluster during the race. With those injuries, Speed’s reaction time would be slower and the pain would have no doubtable clouded his judgement.

“You still did pretty well yourself,” the agent comment, as he punched in the security code for his locker and wrenched it open more aggressively than he meant to. Thankfully, his brother didn’t seem to notice.

Speed just snorted as he continued to get dressed, and Rex didn’t need to see those blue eyes to know they were rolling. “Third place.”

“Which is nothing to be ashamed of. Most racers would kill to place third,” X commented, noticing the moment the teen stiffened at his words. The teen’s hand unknowingly rubbing at the black fabric over his chest where the agent had seen a yellowish bruise.  One that had the distinct shape of a boot and had X itching to grab for his gun once more. 

“Yeah, you’re right,” Speed agreed, staring off into space as if he was reliving a memory. He shook himself out of the memory and flashed X a smile that had his heart racing for a totally different reason that he didn’t want to think about. “Thanks, I needed to hear that. But just so you know, next time, I’ll beat you.”

“We’ll see about that,” X replied, matching the smirk on Speed’s face with one of his own.

“See you later, X,” the young Racer said, picking up his duffle bag with one hand and his white leather jacket with the other.

“See you later,” X replied, the last part whispered so softly that he knew his younger brother couldn’t hear as he left the locker-room. “And be carefully, Speedy.”

He was going to have to confront Speed about what had happened eventually, but now wasn’t the time. He didn’t have enough information on the mysterious woman to do anything as of yet. Besides, even though she seemed to have some kind of design on his brother, at least there was someone else looking out after him when Rex couldn’t. Until the time she became a real threat, he would keep the meeting between the two to himself. It wasn’t something the Chief Inspector needed to know about at this moment.

No sooner had the thought crossed his mind then his cell phone began to ring. Pulling the sleek silver device out of his locker, he checked the caller ID to see the Inspector’s number flashing across the screen.

“Let me guess,” X answered the phone, not bothering with a greeting, “Madam X has gone catatonic.”


End file.
